Deipnosophistae

The words τακερὸς and σίναπι The word πάροψις TurnipsCabbage LeeksPoultryAnaxandridesPigsCooksUse of particular WordsLearned CooksCooksUse of particular WordsMade DishesPheasantsThe PorphyrionPartridgesThe Bustard SparrowsQuailsPigeonsDucksSucklingsAttic form of Nouns in ως LoinsHaresThe word σύαγρος DinnersCookery ChamæleonBean SoupSoapTowels

1. But now let each becalm his troubled breast,
2. Wash, and partake serene the friendly feast;
3. While to renew these topics we delay
4. Till Heaven's revolving lamp restores the day,

both to you and me, O Timocrates. For when some hams were brought round, and come one asked whether they were tender, using the word τακερὸς,—In what author does τακερὸς occur? said Ulpian: and is there any authority, too, for calling mustard σίναπι instead of νᾶπυ? For I see that that condiment is being brought round in the dishes with the hams. And I see that the word κωλεὸς, a ham, is now used in the masculine gender, and not in the feminine only, as our Attic writers use it. At all events, Epicharmus, in his Megarian Woman, says—

1. Sausages, cheese, and hams (κωλεοὶ), and artichokes,
2. But not a single thing that's eatable:

and in his Cyclops he says—

1. Pig's tripe is good, by Jove, and so is ham (κωλεός).

And learn this now from me, O you wise man, that Epicharmus, in this last passage, uses χορδὴ for what, in every other place, he calls ὀρύα, tripe. And I see, too, that salt is used in seasoning in other dishes; but of salt which is not seasoned the Cynics are full, among whom we find, in the Corycus of Antiphanes, another Cynic saying—

1. Of delicacies which the sea produces,
2. We have but one, but that is constant, salt;
3. And then[*](The fragment here given appears to be hopelessly corrupt.) . . . . . .

I see, too, that brine is mingled with vinegar; and I know, too, that now some of the inhabitants of Pontus prepare the pickle which they call oxygarum, or vinegar pickle, by itself.

Zoilus replied to this, and said-Aristophanes, my good friend, in his Lemnian Woman, has used the word τακερὸς for delicate, saying—

1. Lemnus producing good and delicate (τακεροὺς) beans:

and Pherecrates, in his Crapatalli, says—

1. To make the vetches delicate (τυκερούς):

and Nicander the Colophonian has used the word σίναπι in his Theriacans, where he said—

1. A brazen cucumber and mustard too (σίνηπυ);

and in his Georgics he writes—

1. The biting pungent seed of mustard (σινήπυος);

and again he says—

1. Cardamum and the plant which stings the nose,
2. The black-leav'd mustard (σίνηπυ).

And Crates, in his treatise on the Attic Dialect, introduces Aristophanes as saying—

1. He looked mustard (σίναπυ) and drew down his brows,

as Seleucus quotes it, in his books on Hellenism. But it is a line out of the Knights, and it ought to be read thus—

1. κἄβλεψε νάπυ, not καὶ βλέπε σινάπυ:

for no Attic writer ever used the form σίναπυ, although there is a reason for each form. For νάπυ may be said, as if it were νάφυ, because it has no φύσις, or growth. Fr it is ἀφυὲς and little, like the anchovy, which is called ἀφύη, and is called σίναπυ, because it injures the eyes (σίνεται τοὺς ὦπας) by its smell, as the onion has the name of κρόμμυον, because it makes us wink our eyes (ὅτι τὰς κόρας μύομεν). And Xenarchus the comic writer says, in his Scythians—

1. This evil is no longer evil; so
2. My daughter is corrupted by the stranger.

And that exquisite writer, Aristophanes, mentions salt and vinegar, saying, in the place where he speaks of Sthenelus the tragedian,—

1. A. How can I swallow Sthenelus's words?
2. B. By soaking them in vinegar or white salt.

We then, my good friend, have gone along with you in these inquiries. But we have a right to expect an answer from you, in what author the word παροψὶς is used for a vessel. For when speaking of some victuals of various sorts, which were carefully dressed, and of some other things of this sort, I am aware that Plato, in his Festivals, has used the following expressions—

1. Whence barley-cakes might be got, and παροψίδες.

And again, in his Europa, speaking at considerable length of some exquisite dish, he has used the following expressions among others—

1. A. The woman is asleep;
2. B. I am aware
3. That she is doing nothing.
4. A. The παροψίδες
5. Are all awake; and there is not a thing
6. More calculated to give pleasure always.
7. B. But where are these παροψίδες, I pray you?

And in the passage immediately following, he uses the word παροψὶς, as if it were equivalent to παροψώνημα, a delicacy; and in his Phaon he says—

1. Other men's things are like παροψίδες,
2. They please a short time, and are quickly spent.

1. And Aristophanes, in his Dædalus, says—
2. All women have one set of principles,
3. And have a lover, like a παροψὶς, ready.

So when Ulpian made no reply,—But I, said Leonidas, have a right to speak, since I have been silent a long time. But as Evenus the Parian says—

1. Many men make a point of contradicting
2. On every subject equally; but care not
3. Whether they rightly contradict or not.
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4. But for such men there's an old answer fitting,

5. That may be your opinion, this is mine.

6. But with good arguments one may persuade
7. The wise with ease: for always men of sense
8. Do prove, the easiest pupils.

And my excellent friend Myrtilus,—for I have taken the words out of your mouth, Antiphanes,—in his Bœotian, has used this word παροψὶς for a vessel, where he says—

1. After she has invited you to supper,
2. She sets before you a παροψὶς full of . . . .

And Alexis, in his Hesione, says—

1. But when he saw two men well loaded with
2. The table and conveying it in-doors,
3. Groaning beneath a number of παροψίδες,
4. Looking no more at me, he said . . . .

And the man who was the author of the plays which are attributed to Magnes, says in his first Bacchus—

1. These things are now παροψίδες of ill to me.

And Achæus, in his Aethon, a satyric drama, says—

1. And let these savoury boil'd and roasted meats
2. On the παροψίδες be carved in pieces.

And Sotades the comic writer says, in his Man wrongly Ransomed—

1. I a παροψὶς seem to Crobylus.
2. Him he devours alone, but me he takes
3. But as a seasoning to something else.

But the word is used in an ambiguous sense by Xenophon, in the first book of his Cyropædia. For the philosopher says,

They brought him παροψίδας, and condiments of all sorts, and food of all kinds.

And in the works of the author of Chiron, which is usually attributed to Pherecrates, the word παροψὶς is used for seasoning; and not, as Didymus, in his treatise on Words used in a Corrupted Sense, asserts, for a vessel. For he says—

1. By Jove, as παροψίδες are praised or blamed
2. Because of the way in which they flavour meat,
3. So Caletas esteems these people nothing.

And Nicophon, in his Sirens, says—

1. Others may fight the παροψὶς for their seat.

And Aristophanes says, in his Dædalus,—

1. All women have one set of principles,
2. And have a lover, like a παροψὶς, ready.

And Plato says, in his Festivals,—

1. Whence barley-cakes may be got, and παροψίδες.

But he is speaking here of cooking and seasoning onions. But the Attic writers, O my Syri-Attic friend Ulpian, use ἔμβαμμα also in this sense; as Theopompus says, in his Peace:—

1. Bread's a good thing; but flattery and tricks,
2. When added as a seasoning (ἔμβαμμα) to bread,
3. Are odious as can be.

When speaking of hams, they use the two forms κωλῆ and κωλήν. Eupolis, in his Autolycus, says—

1. The legs and hams (κῳλῆες) out of the soup.

And Euripides, in his Sciron, says—

1. Nor hams (κωλῆνες) of kids.

But the word κωλῆ is contracted from κωλέα, as συκῆ from συκέα, λεοντῆ from λεοντέα; so κωλῆ from κωλέα. Aristophanes, in his second Plutus, says—

1. Alas the ham (κωλῆς) which I have just devour'd!

And in his Daitaleis he says—

1. And the fat hams (κωλαὶ) of tender little pigs
2. And dainty tit-bits swift to fly.

And in his Storks he says—

1. The heads of lambs, the hams (κωλὰς) of kids.

And Plato, in his Griffins, says—

1. Fish, and hams (κωλὰς), and sausages.

And Ameipsias, in his Connus, says—

1. The ham (κωλῆ) from off the victim, and the ribs,
2. And the left side o' th' head are usually given.

And Xenophon, in his book on Hunting, says—

The ham (κωλῆ) is fleshy, and the loins moist.

And Xenophanes the Colophonian, in his Elegies, says—

1. For having sent a ham (κωλῆ) of kid, you won
2. A mighty leg of carefully fatted bull,
3. An honourable present for a man,
4. Whose glory shall pervade all Greece, and never
5. Cease while the poets and the songs of Greece
6. Survive in memory and the mouths of men.

And as immediately after this a great quantity of food of all sorts was brought in, we will just mention those dishes which seem most worthy of being remembered; for there

was a great quantity of birds, and of geese, and also of young birds (which some people call πίποι), and of pigs, and of those highly-esteemed birds the pheasants. And after I have told you about the vegetables, I will then enumerate to you the other dishes also.

First of all, there were turnips; and Apellas in his treatise on the Cities in Peloponnesus, says that turnips are called γαστέρες by the Lacedæmonians: and Nicander the Colophonian, in his Dialects, says that among the Bœotians it is cabbages which are called γαστέρες, and that turnips are called in Bœotia ζεκελτίδες. But Amerias and Timachidas affirm that it is gourds which are called ζακελτίδες. And Speusippus, in the second book of his treatise on Things resembling one another, says—

The radish, the turnip, the rape, and the nasturtium all resemble each other.

But Glaucus, in his Cookery Book, spells the word ῥάφυς (rape) with the lene π,—ῥάπυς. But these vegetables have nothing else like them, unless, indeed, it be the plant which we call bounias: but Theophrastus does not use the name of bounias, but calls it a sort of male turnip; and perhaps the plant which he means is the bounias. And Nicander, in his Georgics, mentions the bounias—

1. Sow turnips on a well-roll'd field, that they
2. May grow as large as the flat dish that holds them,
3. * * * *
4. . . . . . For there are two kinds
5. Which from the radish spring: one long, one firm,
6. Both seen in well-till'd beds in kitchen gardens.

And the turnips which grow on the banks of the Cephisus are mentioned by Cratis, in his Orators, thus—

1. And wholly like the turnips of Cephisus.

But Theophrastus says that there are two kinds of turnips, the male and the female, and that they both come from the same seed; but Posidonius the Stoic philosopher, in the twenty-seventh book of his Histories, concerning Dalmatia, says that there are some turnips which grow without any cultivation, and also some carrots that grow wild. But Diphilus the physician, of Siphnos, says—

The turnip has attenuating properties, and is harsh and indigestible, and moreover is apt to cause flatulence: but the vegetable called bounias is superior to that; for it is sweeter in taste and

v.2.p.582

more digestible, in addition to being wholesome for the sto- mach and nutritious. But the turnip,

he says,

when roasted, is more easily digested, but in this state it attenuates the blood still more.

This vegetable is mentioned by Eubulus, in his Ancylion, where he says—

1. I bring this turnip to be roasted now.

And Alexis, in his Enthusiast, says—

1. I speak to Ptolemy, roasting slices of turnip.

But the turnip, when pickled, is more attenuating in its effects than when boiled, especially when it is pickled with mustard, as Diphilus says.

Then there was the cabbage. Eudemus the Athenian, in his treatise on Vegetables, says that there are three kinds of cabbage—the kind called the salt-cabbage, and the smooth-leaved-cabbage, and the parsley-cabbage: and that the salt-cabbage is reckoned the finest of all in respect of its delicacy of taste; and it grows in Eretria, and Cyme, and Rhodes, and also in Cnidos and Ephesus: but the smooth-leaved kind is found in every country; and the parsley-cabbage has its name from the curly nature of its leaves, for it is like parsley, both in that respect and in its general thickness. But Theophrastus writes thus—

But of the, ῥάφανος,—I mean the cabbage,—there is one kind with curly leaves, and another with smooth leaves, and a third which is wild.

And Diphilus the Siphnian says—

The finest and most delicious cabbage grows in Cyme; in Alexandria it is bitter; and the seed which is brought from Rhodes to Alexandria produces sweet cabbage for one year, after which time it degenerates again, from the nature of the soil.

And Nicander, in his Georgics, says—

1. The smooth-leaved cabbage sometimes wild is found,
2. And then the curly many-leaved plants
3. Are often sown in beds; . . . . . . .
4. There is another kind, of reddish colour,
5. Like frogs in drought; some of bad colour too
6. Do come from Cyme, like the dingy soles
7. Which cobblers often sew on worn-out boots;
8. And these the ancients do the Prophets call

But perhaps Nicander calls the cabbage Prophet, as being sacred; since in Hipponax, in his Iambics, we find some such lines as these,—

1. He falling down worshipp'd the seven-leaved cabbage,
2. To which, before she drank the poison'd draught,
3. Pandora brought a cake at the Thargelia.

And Ananius says—

1. And, by the cabbage do I swear, I love thee
2. By far the most of mortal men . . .

And Teleclides, in his Prytanes, uses the oath,

Yes, by the cabbages

and Epicharmus has the same exclamation in his Earth and Sea; and so has Eupolis, in his Dyer; and it appears to have been an Ionian oath: and there is nothing very strange in the fact of some people having sworn by the cabbage, since Zeno the Cittiæan, the founder of the sect of the Stoics, imitating the oath of Socrates,

by the bitch,

was used himself to swear

by the caper,

as Empodus relates in his Memorabilia.